Fantasy sports leagues corresponding to real-life sports leagues, such as fantasy football leagues corresponding to the National Football League (NFL) and fantasy baseball leagues corresponding to Major League Baseball (MLB), are extremely popular among sports enthusiasts. A typical fantasy sports league is operated concurrently with and associated with an entire season of or a portion of an entire season of the sports league with which the fantasy sports league is associated. For example, one known fantasy football league begins contemporaneously with the first week of the NFL regular season and ends upon completion of the last week of the NFL regular season. A typical fantasy sports league includes several teams, each of which is managed by a different player. Each of the teams includes several athletes who play in the sports league with which the fantasy sports league is associated. For example, teams in fantasy football leagues include athletes who play in the NFL.
Players of a typical fantasy sports league receive scores for their fantasy sports teams based solely on the real-life performance of the athletes on the players' teams during the season or the portion of the season of the sports league with which the fantasy sports league is associated. While the calculation of the scores varies among different types of fantasy sports leagues, in general the score for an athlete on a fantasy sports team is a linear function of various performance characteristics or statistics of that athlete in each game during the season of the sports league in which the athlete plays. In a typical fantasy sports league, a prize or an award is provided to the fantasy sports teams having the highest score during the season.
In certain other known fantasy sports leagues, teams including one or more real-life athletes compete against one another in simulated games. For example, in one such fantasy football league, one team competes against another team in a simulated football game wherein events that occur during the football game are simulated and the outcome of the football game is simulated. In these known fantasy sports leagues, such simulations are typically performed based on the historical performance of one or more of the athletes on the teams.
Certain known video games are also configured to simulate the outcome of a sporting event. Such known video games typically simulate the outcome of the sporting event by simulating events within the sporting event using a probability distribution derived from historical performance of real-life athletes. More specifically, such known video games simulate the events within the sporting event using a probability distribution derived from historical performance of real-life athletes who are represented in the sporting event.
There is a continuing need to provide new and exciting fantasy sports games employing simulated outcomes based on athletes' historical performances to eliminate the dependence of typical fantasy sports leagues on the schedules of sports leagues with which they are associated while still providing players an entertaining, realistic experience.